Wales 15 Ireland 36

Ireland recorded an easy 36-15 RBS Six Nations win over Wales at Lansdowne.  The home team scored six tries to two -- with hooker Shane Byrne scoring two of Ireland's five-pointers.

The wind blew effectively at Irish backs on a cold, sunny Dublin afternoon and at half-time the Irish led 24-3, four tries to nil.  They scored another two in the second half before losing interest and impetus in a plethora of changes, enabling the eager Welsh to score two tries for a final score of 36-15, the extent of the Irish victory a surprise.

The Irish had not just the wind to thank, but also their pack who starved Wales of possession and made scoring chances with their fast-moving maul.  Three of the four first-half tries came from close-in mauls.  Two of the tries went to hooker Shane Byrne, tucked in Keith-Wood style at the back of the mauls.

It was only in the last 20 minutes when penalties gave Wales a chance to attack close-in that the visitors were able to keep possession for any length of time and build up to their tries.

The first Irish try came after a minute.  Ireland kicked off deep.  Wales eventually got the ball out but not far enough away.  Ireland won the line-out, drove a maul at speed and suddenly Byrne came charging from behind in a 10-metre burst that took him untouched over the line.  Ronan O'Gara kicked the conversion.

Wales then had a rare foray into Irish theurgist and goaled when Ireland were penalised for diving onto a tackle.  After five minutes the score was 7-3.

The Irish rushed another maul but this time sent the ball to their left.  Brian O'Driscoll, No.13 on his back but playing at inside centre, cut back strongly and scored despite a handful of Welsh defenders -- 14-3.

Wales won an Irish line-out and attacked but the Irish defence was physically and numerically too strong to let the Men in Red through.

Hemmed in Gordon D'Arcy managed a deceptive run down the left-wing and only a desperate ankle-tap by Martyn Williams prevented another Irish score.  They got one soon after when O'Gara's hands charged down an attempted clearance by Iestyn Harris.  O'Gara scampered after the ball in in-goal, checked himself carefully and scored -- 19-3.

A five-metre line-out to Ireland saw them go around the front this time and Byrne flung himself over in the corner on half-time.  Ireland were 24-3 ahead at the break.

The second half looked like becoming a canter for the Irish.  O'Driscoll came inside and broke as clean as a whistle.  When Wales were penalised five metres from their line, O'Driscoll tapped and Anthony Foley surged over.  That made it 31-3.

The next break, looking for all the world like a classy centre's break, came from openside flank Keith Gleeson as he sped through the midfield.  This time O'Driscoll scored forcing his way through two tacklers to plonk the ball over the line.  O'Gara converted, and the score was 36-3.

More looked to be coming when D'Arcy scooted around the outside of replacement Tom Shanklin, but he was injured in the move and helped off the field.

The rest belonged to Wales.

After two penalties, they attacked left and right and eventually Martyn Williams got a clever one-handed pass behind Kevin Maggs's back to send Shanklin over in the corner.

Wales attacked some more and after Girvan Dempsey had been sin-binned for a deliberate infringement near the Irish line, Shanklin ploughed through three defenders to score close-in.  Stephen Jones's conversion ended the scoring.

Wales, who had come in so much hope, ended well and truly defeated.

Man of the match:  There were many Irish candidates, including centres Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy, but really the honours belong in the pack where tighthead prop John Hayes, flanks Simon Easterby and Keith Gleeson, No.8 Anthony Foley and lock Paul O'Connell were dominant.  But the award goes to hooker Shane Byrne who scored two tries, got through a load of work and threw in impeccably in the strong wind as his jumpers rose high above the line-out.

Moment of the match:  There was Martyn Williams's delicate pass and Brian O'Driscoll's powerful tries, but really the moment which set the stage for what followed was that first try by Shane Byrne as the cohesive Irish drove the maul at speed and sent their hooker surging free for a try.

Villain of the match:  Oddly, they, too, were Irish as they infringed again and again close to their line late in the match, ending with a yellow card for Girvan Dempsey in the 74th minute.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Adam Jones, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Iestyn Thomas, 4 Brent Cockbain, 5 Robert Sidoli, 6 Jonathan Thomas, 7 Martyn Williams (c), 8 Dafydd Jones, 9 Gareth Cooper, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Rhys Williams, 12 Iestyn Harris, 13 Sonny Parker, 14 Shane Williams, 15 Gareth Thomas
Reserves:  Gethin Jenkins, Michael Owen, Dwayne Peel, Alix Popham, Tom Shanklin, Ceri Sweeney
Unused:  Mefin Davies

Ireland:  1 John Hayes, 2 Shane Byrne, 3 Reggie Corrigan, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 5 Paul O'Connell, 6 Simon Easterby, 7 Keith Gleeson, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Tyrone Howe, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 14 Shane Horgan, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Victor Costello, Guy Easterby, David Humphreys, Malcolm O'Kelly, Simon Best, Kevin Maggs, Frankie Sheahan

Attendance:  49000
Referee:  Jutge j.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Shanklin T. 2
Conv:  Jones S.M. 1
Pen K.:  Jones S.M. 1

Ireland
Tries:  O'Driscoll B.G. 2, O'Gara R.J.R. 1, Byrne J.S. 2, Foley A.G. 1
Conv:  O'Gara R.J.R. 3

England 35 Scotland 13

England retained the Calcutta Cup with a 35-13 win over Scotland at Murrayfield in Edinburgh.  The world champions scored four tries to one in the RBS Six Nations fixture.

It was a strange old night at Murrayfield indeed -- starting with the pre-match histrionics that were worthy of the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup rather than what was in all likelihood expected to be a one-sided Calcutta Cup clash.

The pre-match rigmarole seemed to fire the Scotland side up, however, and the English outfit seemed somewhat surprised at their opponents' initial onslaught.

England were immediately on the back foot when scrum-half Andy Gomarsall sliced his kick into touch and the Scots were unlucky not to score when England fullback Iain Balshaw mistimed an attempted clearance inside his 22.  The Scotland attackers, however, could not get to the ball in time to dot down.

England were soon spurred on by Scotland's opening commitment and they began to string together some moves and centre Jason Robinson provided them with the spark they needed when he chipped through the Scottish defence from five metres out.

Scotland fullback Ben Hinshelwood got back quickly, but was left clutching thin air as the ball bounced awkwardly away from him, leaving Ben Cohen only needing to apply downward pressure for the try.  Fly-half Paul Grayson added the extras.

The hosts lived up to their moniker of "bravehearts" as they continued to throw their bodies around with little regard for safety and dominated periods of play for the opening quarter, but for all their passion and commitment they could not find a way through the England defence.

Winger Simon Danielli was the pick of the Scotland backs and he came agonisingly close in the 18th minute only to knock the ball on metres from the England line after blasting through a gap.

Captain Chris Paterson finally put his team on the board soon after, but Grayson reclaimed the seven-point advantage a few minutes later with a penalty of his own and stretched the lead further four minutes later with another.

Referee David McHugh then played a major role in England's next try when he inexplicably failed to pick up an English knock-on -- letting play carry on -- and Balshaw took advantage of the referee's mistake to stretch the lead.

Grayson was again on hand to add the extras.

The Scotland players battled to control themselves after the try and the wheels threatened to come off as they began to lose their structure and, worse, their handling began to let them down.  None more so than Brendan Laney, who after taking a quick throw-in to himself, stopped playing and waited for England flanker Richard Hill to dump him in the tackle in another surreal moment.

Scotland could only shake their heads in dismay as they went into the break 20-6 down.

The second half proved to be a drab affair with neither team showing much desire to break the game wide open, but it was England who continued to ride their luck and hard-working winger Josh Lewsey, who was the standout performer for the visitors, picked up another soft try.

Lewsey had flanker Chris Jones to thank when the lanky Sale loose forward -- on his run-on debut -- charged down a kick on the Scotland line -- Lewsey was on hand to dot down.

The Scots were then finally rewarded for their tireless efforts when Balshaw fluffed a clearance at the back for Danielli to snaffle the ball and scream over for the try.  Unbelievably it was Scotland's first against England since 2000.

The scoreline suddenly read 25-13 and the crowd began to liven up to the possibility of an upset, but it was not to be.  A Grayson penalty and a try to lock Danny Grewcock made sure of that.  England, however, will be far from enthused after a sub-standard performance, while Scotland can hold their heads a little higher after a much-improved showing.

Man of the match:  For Scotland, scrum-half Chris Cusiter and winger Simon Danielli both proved useful, while flanker Jason White was a giant on defence.  But England winger Josh Lewsey stood head and shoulders above everybody else with a tireless effort -- the former army man showing strength far beyond his stature.

Moment of the match:  Brendan Laney's bemused look as England hard man Richard Hill dumped him into the ground after the Scotland centre's quick throw-in to himself.

Villain of the match:  There weren't many, but the sin-binning of Simon Taylor springs to mind as a possible candidate, but take a bow Brendan Laney, whose decision to stop running after taking a quick throw just made no sense and for a veteran player it was particularly foolish.

The Teams:

England:  1 Phil Vickery, 2 Steve Thompson, 3 Trevor Woodman, 4 Ben Kay, 5 Danny Grewcock, 6 Richard Hill, 7 Chris Jones, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio (c), 9 Andy Gomarsall, 10 Paul Grayson, 11 Ben Cohen, 12 Will Greenwood, 13 Jason Robinson, 14 Josh Lewsey, 15 Iain Balshaw
Reserves:  Matt Dawson, Simon Shaw, Henry Paul
Unused:  Jason Leonard, Mark Regan, Olly Barkley, Alex Sanderson

Scotland:  1 Bruce Douglas, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Tom Smith, 4 Stuart Grimes, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Simon Taylor, 7 Jason White, 8 Cameron Mather, 9 Chris Cusiter, 10 Chris Paterson (c), 11 Simon Webster, 12 Brendan Laney, 13 Tom Philip, 14 Simon Danielli, 15 Ben Hinshelwood
Reserves:  Michael Blair, Nathan Hines, Gavin Kerr, Daniel Parks, Andrew Henderson, Allister Hogg, Robbie Russell

Attendance:  67500
Referee:  Mchugh d.

Points Scorers:

England
Tries:  Balshaw I.R. 1, Lewsey O.J. 1, Cohen B.C. 1, Grewcock D.J. 1
Conv:  Grayson P.J. 3
Pen K.:  Grayson P.J. 3

Scotland
Tries:  Danielli S.C.J. 1
Conv:  Paterson C.D. 1
Pen K.:  Paterson C.D. 2

France 25 Italy 0

France remained in the hunt for RBS Six Nations glory after defeating a persistent Italian side 25-0, but if Bernard Laporte's men were hoping to send out a message of intent to the likes England they failed.  Les Bleus looked sluggish in attack and were unable to execute the final move that -- on a number of occasions -- would have led to an easy try.

France's day was summed up by Stade Français winger Christophe Dominici, who dropped the ball after trotting over the Italian line -- thereby wasting yet another fluid attack from depth.

But to say that the low score of this ultimately unforgettable match sorely reflects France's inability to find the finishing touch is a massive injustice to the Italians, who put in a remorseless defensive performance, and had a few nice attacks of their own.

Italy, however, had a few problems with their finishing too -- but if they manage to keep their nerve (and the ball) for their remaining Six Nation fixtures, the Celtic nations will struggle to subdue their lively raids.

Indeed, Italy coach John Kirwan will be excused if he takes his boys out for a night on the Parisian tiles -- they look a much more rounded team than they did in 2003, and deserve a few beers after a week that saw them take on the world champions and France -- Rugby World Cup semi-finalists.

France started the game as they did against the Irish week -- slow and unsure of how to go about breaking down their visitors.

A missed penalty from scrum-half Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, who took over the kicking duties from injured Toulouse colleague Frédéric Michalak, after only four minutes exemplified their unsettled state of mind, and they struggled to get the basics right.

But Elissalde made amends for his miss in the eighth minute, and France started to probe from deep to good effect.

Indeed, it was an impromptu counter-attack that lead to Frances' first try in the 23rd minute.

Italy won a line-out on the French 22, but scrappy distribution allowed France to fly-hack it ahead.

The French poured through the holes and ever-present scavenger Serge Betsen was on hand to keep the ball alive.  Eventually the ball was spun wide to the left, and big No.8 Imanol Harinordoquy was on the wing to step through a couple of flaying challenges to score.

Italy responded well and came within an inch of a score after a break from Kiwi scrum-half Paul Griffen, and went into the break trailing by 10 points to nil down.

Italy would have fancied their chances of continuing the second period in the same pugnacious manner, but France centre Damien Traille soon pulled his side into a 13-0 lead with a huge penalty effort.

Dominici's clanger moments later lifted Italian hopes, but the French soon got their second try -- when they produced a carbon-copy of their first score -- in the 63 minute.

Betsen managed to clean up a scrappy line-out ball and the French manage to work the ball wide to the left where Harinordoquy was lurking, and he once again he powered through two tackles to crash over the line.

As the game headed into the final 10 minutes, France look to have clinched a third only for replacement prop Jean-Jacques Crenca's impressive burst to be disallowed for crossing.

But, following a turnover, a sharp sprint form replacement Pepito Elhorga was enough to ensure the French of a third try and a deceptively good-looking 25-0 final scoreline.

Man of the match:  Imanol Harinordoquy deserves a big mention for a brace of well-taken tries -- but our award goes to a gutsy performance in adversity from Italy scrum-half Paul Griffen.  In only his second game for the Azzurri, the New Zealand-born scrum-half harried his forwards to keep up the fight for the full 80 minutes, and patrolled behind his backs in readiness for any French breaks.  Any aspiring No.9 should have a watch of this game -- Griffen put in a text book defensive performance.

Moment of the match:  When Christophe Dominici sliced through the last line of Italian defence early in the second half, the Stade de France crowd erupted -- and so should have:  all the little wing had to do was ground the ball.  This, however, proved beyond the veteran of two Rugby World Cups.  Looking for the front-page picture in Sunday's L'Equipe, the Stade Français flyer tried to put in a photogenic one-handed touchdown only to lose the ball off his leg.  If Dominici had found a shovel lying beside the advertising hoardings he collapsed into, he would have surely dug himself a hole!

Villain of the match:  No contest -- see above!  Not looking too cool now, are we Christophe?  Quelle faux-pas!

The Teams:

France:  1 Pieter De Villiers, 2 William Servat, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 4 Fabien Pelous (c), 5 Pascal Pape, 6 Serge Betsen Tchoua, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 9 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 10 Julien Peyrelongue, 11 Vincent Clerc, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Nicolas Brusque
Reserves:  David Auradou, Yannick Bru, Jean-Jacques Crenca, Thomas Lievremont, Pepito Elhorga, Dimitri Yachvili
Unused:  Brian Liebenberg

Italy:  1 Leandro Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 3 Andrea Lo Cicero, 4 Marco Bortolami, 5 Santiago Dellape, 6 Andrea De Rossi (c), 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Sergio Parisse, 9 Paul Griffen, 10 Rima Wakarua-Noema, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Matteo Barbini, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Mirco Bergamasco, 15 Roland De Marigny
Reserves:  Manuel Dallan, Carlo Festuccia, Carlo Checchinato, Nicola Mazzucato, Salvatore Perugini
Unused:  Silvio Orlando, Simon Picone

Attendance:  79080
Referee:  Lewis a.

Points Scorers:

France
Tries:  Harinordoquy I. 2, Elhorga P. 1
Conv:  Elissalde J-B. 2
Pen K.:  Traille D. 1, Elissalde J-B. 1

England 50 Italy 9

England defeated Italy 50-9 at Stadio Flaminio in Rome, a big RBS Six Nations victory and an efficient one, lightened by moments of individual brilliance, above all from Jason Robinson, who scored an electric hat-trick of tries.

The first of the three, which took England to 18-9, was the best as England countered.  Right-wing Josh Lewsey took the ball to and almost over the touchline before bowling the ball into Robinson -- playing in the No.12 jumper, but popping up everywhere -- who burst ahead.

The Italian fly-half Rima Wakarua waited, arms spread like a fowl in the heat, but Robinson just skipped between him and the touchline and Wakarua was not even close to tackling him.

It was a delicious moment.

Try as Italy may -- and they could not be faulted for effort -- England were going to win.  It took England a minute to get onto the scoreboard.  They kicked a short one into the middle and won the ball.  Marco Bortalami was penalised for hanging on in the tackle and Northampton's Paul Grayson kicked the goal.

This early setback seemed not to dishearten the Italians, who showed resolve and steel throughout the half.  They contested England's efforts to get possession and got plenty of their own.  They put it through the phases, but they lacked penetration to do anything really challenging.  Phases gave New Zealand-born Wakarua a clear shot at goal.  He swung his economical boot and scored.

Soon afterwards England went sweeping left.  Iain Balshaw dummied prop Andrea Lo Cicero to score neatly.  Grayson converted.  He got two more penalties in the half, as did Wakarua.  Then came Robinson's first try and England led 18-6.

A weird penalty for obstruction at an Italian-won scrum gave Grayson a penalty which he goaled.  The last score of the match also came from a scrum won by Italy, when Matt Dawson upset Paul Griffin and tall Chris Jones picked and plunged to score on his debut.

A few times England tried their moving maul with Steve Thompson in the Neil Back role.  They were not great, but one just before half-time shunted Italy back on their left.  The ball came to England's left, with deft bits of passing, for Robinson to sprint over in the corner.  That made it 26-9 at half-time.

At the start of the second half Italy had their best passage of play.  They did things with possession that were more innovative.  Apart from that period of play they were content to pass across the field, while England's Maginot line strung out to stop them.

First there was a great break by tall No.8 Sergio Parisse with the zig-zag hairdo.  That came close and may well have produced a try if he could have managed a pass.  Lewsey stopped Italy from playing and was penalised, lucky not to be sin-binned.

Then Andrea Masi, down as fullback, but playing all over the field, broke strongly down the Italian right.  He chipped, but the ball broke right -- and into touch.

The third came from Italy's new scrum-half, a remarkably hirsute New Zealander, Paul Griffen.  He just went clean through the England defence and got a pass away, but prop Martin Castrogiovanni was stopped.

Griffen, playing his first match for Italy had a better match than Andy Gomarsall did, but battled against Matt Dawson's niggling pressure.

As substitutes started to swamp the game, England did some seemingly inconsequential battering till Lewsey infused life with a dance and a dart to score.  Grayson converted and that made it 33-9, with 23 minutes to play.

Robinson got his third try when again England did some quick, short passing till he had an opening to send him screaming at the line.

Grayson got a try as a present.  He chipped.  The ball bounced high off the fingers of Griffen and into the arms of Grayson, who had to take only a single step to score at the posts -- 45-9.

At this stage the England fans sang their American spiritual in the panting heart of Catholicism's capital but the home crowd drowned out Sweet Chariot with an insistent chant of Italia.

Man of the match:  An easy one here -- Jason Robinson.

Moment of the match:  Jason Robinson's first try, the day's magic.

Villain of the match:  There were two late tackles of no particular violence (by Santiago Dellape and Silvio Orlando) and Josh Lewsey was not fair in stopping an Italian effort to score, but really it was a match of courage and honest effort.

The Teams:

England:  1 Phil Vickery, 2 Steve Thompson, 3 Trevor Woodman, 4 Ben Kay, 5 Danny Grewcock, 6 Richard Hill, 7 Joe Worsley, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio (c), 9 Andy Gomarsall, 10 Paul Grayson, 11 Ben Cohen, 12 Will Greenwood, 13 Jason Robinson, 14 Josh Lewsey, 15 Iain Balshaw
Reserves:  Matt Dawson, Jason Leonard, Mark Regan, Simon Shaw, Olly Barkley, Chris Jones, Henry Paul

Italy:  1 Leandro Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 3 Andrea Lo Cicero, 4 Marco Bortolami, 5 Santiago Dellape, 6 Andrea De Rossi (c), 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Sergio Parisse, 9 Paul Griffen, 10 Rima Wakarua-Noema, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Manuel Dallan, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Nicola Mazzucato, 15 Andrea Masi
Reserves:  Roland De Marigny, Carlo Festuccia, Silvio Orlando, Mirco Bergamasco, Carlo Checchinato, Salvatore Perugini
Unused:  Simon Picone

Attendance:  28500
Referee:  Turner a.

Points Scorers:

England
Tries:  Balshaw I.R. 1, Lewsey O.J. 1, Robinson J.T. 3, Grayson P.J. 1, Jones C.M. 1
Conv:  Grayson P.J. 3
Pen K.:  Grayson P.J. 3

Italy
Pen K.:  Wakarua-Noema R. 2
Drop G.:  Wakarua-Noema R. 1

Wales 23 Scotland 10

Wales opened their 2004 RBS Six Nations campaign with an electrifying 23-10 win over an inexperienced and ultimately outclassed Scotland side at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Rhys Williams was the star for Wales -- running in two of his side's three tries -- as they opened the Six Nations with a victory for the first time in seven years.

While the hosts got their season off to the best of starts, Scotland face a lot of work after an unconvincing performance and new coach Matt Williams will find it difficult to find positives in his first game in charge of this new-look team.

The hosts hit the ground running much to the delight of an expectant home crowd, who since the Rugby World Cup last year have renewed faith in their team, and it took under five minutes for Wales to cross the line with Williams, Rhys that is, crossing for the first of his two tries.

Inside centre Iestyn Harris made the initial break as he cut through the Scottish defence, off-loading to veteran fullback Gareth Thomas -- making his 73rd appearance for Wales -- who put Williams away in the corner.  Fly-half Steven Jones made no mistake with the conversion.

Scotland, however, hit back not long after when captain Chris Paterson put over a drop-goal in the ninth minute, but it was scant reward for the Scots who would have been disappointed not to have made better use of an extended period of possession.

Wales seemed far more assured with the ball in hand and with Rhys Williams and his namesake Shane in ominous form, the Scotland outfit seemed unable to keep up.

Their defence was stretched again when Wales attacked off the base of a scrum and charged up in attack, sweeping the bewildered Scots across the width of the field with some exquisite handling.  Tighthead prop Adam Jones found himself out wide to receive the final pass and the big man -- with loosehead Duncan Jones in support -- showed a surprising turn of pace to charge over for the try.

Jones -- fly-half Stephen, not the props!  -- was again on hand to add the extras.  The Wales pivot then extended the lead further on the stroke of half-time with a penalty for the hosts to go into the break leading 18-3.

Wales continued to dominate in the opening quarter of the second half and 10 minutes after the restart Williams cantered over for his second try of the night following a handling error by Scotland at a defensive line-out.

It was the visitors, however, who enjoyed the bulk of the possession in a stagnant final quarter and a brave Scotland threw their entire arsenal at their hosts, but to no avail, as the Welsh defence simply absorbed the pressure and turned possession over at will.

Scotland tried their best to break free, but few things went right for Williams' youthful charges and Wales kept their visitors on the back foot for the rest of the night as the match began to break down into a Sevens-style contest with neither of the teams really taking control, although Wales had wrapped it up with their third try.

To their credit Scotland never gave up and they were rewarded on the stroke of full-time when standout No.8 Simon Taylor burrowed over for their only try of the match.  Paterson added the extra two points, but it was small consolation after yet another disappointing display by the out-of-sort Scots.

Man of the match:  Winger Rhys Williams was the personification of Wales' free-running style and apart from his two tries the Cardiff flyer was involved in any number of the Welsh moves as well as being a Trojan in defence.  His namesake Shane also deserves a mention here for some smart work on attack.

Moment of the match:  Very little can better the sight of a tighthead prop steaming down the touchline and it was not hard to give this award to Wales prop Adam Jones -- with an honourable mention to fellow front ranker Duncan Jones for keeping up -- for his sensational try in the corner.

Villian of the match:  Nobody springs to mind with the match played in excellent spirit.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Duncan Jones, 2 Mefin Davies, 3 Adam Jones, 4 Brent Cockbain, 5 Gareth Llewellyn, 6 Colin Charvis (c), 7 Martyn Williams, 8 Dafydd Jones, 9 Gareth Cooper, 10 Stephen Jones, 11 Rhys Williams, 12 Iestyn Harris, 13 Sonny Parker, 14 Shane Williams, 15 Gareth Thomas
Reserves:  Huw Bennett, Gethin Jenkins, Michael Owen, Dwayne Peel, Jonathan Thomas
Unused:  Tom Shanklin, Ceri Sweeney

Scotland:  1 Bruce Douglas, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 3 Tom Smith, 4 Stuart Grimes, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Allister Hogg, 7 Cameron Mather, 8 Simon Taylor, 9 Chris Cusiter, 10 Chris Paterson (c), 11 Andrew Henderson, 12 Brendan Laney, 13 Tom Philip, 14 Simon Danielli, 15 Ben Hinshelwood
Reserves:  Michael Blair, Gavin Kerr, Daniel Parks, Simon Webster, Robbie Russell, Jason White
Unused:  Simon Cross

Attendance:  73913
Referee:  Courtney d.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Williams G.R. 2, Jones A. 1
Conv:  Jones S.M. 1
Pen K.:  Jones S.M. 2

Scotland
Tries:  Taylor S.M. 1
Conv:  Paterson C.D. 1
Drop G.:  Paterson C.D. 1